Free Republic

Geoffrey Owens is returning to prime time in the wake of a recent job-shaming controversy. The Cosby Show vet has joined the cast of the OWN drama The Haves and the Have Nots in a recurring capacity, according to TMZ. He’ll appear in 10 episodes throughout the upcoming Season 6 in an undisclosed role. Tyler Perry, who created The Haves and the Have Nots, first reached out to Owens via social media on Monday after certain media outlets sought to shame the Cosby alum for working at a Trader Joe’s grocery store in Clifton, N.J. “I’m about to start shootings...

The former "Cosby Show" actor job-shamed by some media outlets over the weekend with photos showing him working at a Trader Joe's in New Jersey to make ends meet, said Tuesday he was so upset that he quit his job. Geoffrey Owens "I was really devastated," Geoffrey Owens, who lives in Montclair, said during an interview on Good Morning America. But Owens said the outpouring of support he received on social media from the entertainment industry and beyond helped him through it. "The period of devastation was so short because so shortly after that, the responses my wife and I...

The United Kingdom’s Daily Mail recently decided to break a “story” about actor Geoffrey Owens who works at Trader Joe’s in addition to his current acting career and other life activities, such as apparently taking care of his 95-year old mother.Facing widespread and bipartisan, and in this case justified, backlash quickly on social media, including even from the sternly neutral Dictionary.com, this saga is a firsthand example of some of the problems infecting our current journalistic climate.As someone who dabbles in the acting and media worlds myself, I am grateful that my “job between gigs” is a fruitful and well paying one. I...